CFHY January Athlete of the Month: Mary Rahal!

The CrossFit Hyannis Athlete of the Month for January is Mary Rahal. Mary started CrossFit at the age of 70 and has become a staple of the 6:30am class. She proves every day that being fearless, excuse free, and consistently showing up are some of the major keys to living a vibrant and full life.

Mary heard about CrossFit from her daughter and tagged along to check it out when her daughter joined us for a few weeks at CFHY while on vacation last summer. With some nudging and reassurance that we could appropriately scale and modify the workouts so they were appropriate for her- Mary got on board and started at CrossFit Hyannis.

Mary jumped right in with modified burpees, lifting, rowing, assault bikes, and all the other “fun” movements that we do in CrossFit. She is participating in the Lurong nutrition challenge and dialing in her diet.

Coach Glassman has said from the beginning that “the needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree, not kind.” We all need to be able to move well- whether that be on the athletic field or within or daily lives. We need to be strong enough to handle our daily tasks- whether that be performing in a sport or bringing our groceries to the car. We need to push ourselves physically and mentally in the constant pursuit of excellence and the quest to be better physically and mentally each day. In CrossFit we all use constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity (which is relative) with the goal to be better, stronger, fitter, happier and healthier.

Mary exemplifies the spirit of CrossFit- she shows up, works hard, and challenges herself daily. She is a great example that no matter where you are- your age, your current level of fitness, or any other factors it’s possible to get better each day as long as you show up and put in work.

Mary recently said that she has noticed an improvement in strength and health since beginning CrossFit. After months of scaling burpees, today Mary did her first burpee in which she laid completely on the ground and stood up. As much as some of us may complain about burpees- it’s important to occasionally remember that the burpee is essentially a life skill, both literally and metaphorically. When you fall, you have to be able to get back up.